Page 1 of 6 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 58

Thread: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Pendle, Lancs,UK
    Beans
    159
    Distro
    Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

    3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    Hi, I've been following this project since January and have posted encouragements before. However I became impatient and over the last week have tried to install Mandriva, Ubuntu and now Wubi and none of them will boot.
    This is a long sad tale. I got a free dvd of Mandriva from a magazine and installed it. The installation seemed to go fine but it wouldn't boot. I got lots of help from the people on Mandriva Forum. They told me how to edit the boot line and suggested I add noapic nolapic and load_modules=off. I did this but still couldn't get through the boot. They suggested I try Ubuntu and by coincidence my Ubuntu 7.04 live cd from Shipit arrived so I tried that. I could not get that to boot either.
    I have posted details about that on Ubuntu Forums Absolute Beginners section (Can't boot-is it my hardware?)
    People on there suggested I edit the boot line in a similar way as before- adding noapic nolapic .This seemed to get me a bit further than before. It stopped on a page for about a minute then eventually stopped on one with several do_page_ fault lines and a couple of error code lines.
    There was a line of these =========== and then some code-2e 65a etc and then-
    [391.687622]EIP:[<c011ddac>]kmap_atomic+0x5c/0xa0 SS:ESP 0068=f37b3ebc
    [391.687826]<6>note:udevd[6535]exited with preempt_count 1

    I then tried the latest version of Wubi and it has installed fine but won't boot.
    My pc is about 2 years old and consists of a Intel Celeron R 3.06 chip with 1gb of RAM plus two internal drives- a C. drive 80gb which has my Windows installation on it. This was partioned by Mandriva (about half of it). I have deleted all the non NTFS partions and removed Mandriva but the drive is still partioned and now shows in my computer as New Volume K. I tried to expand the C drive with Diskpart but it won't do it. I don't think this is crucial as it is now NTFS and I can access it. Wubi is installed there on the New Volume K drive. I also have a 120gb D drive which is 3/4 full of music and photos. I also have a Nvidia 6600 graphics card and a Canon printer.

    Can you help? The Mandriva people seemed to think I have a hardware problem and suggested Ubuntu as it has a newer kernel. When I try and boot Wubi I get to the splash screen but the progress bar only moves about half an inch. I got further with Ubuntu with noapic nolapic added but I can't seem to get a text boot by pressing F6 with Wubi.
    Am I doomed to never experience Linux. Please help.
    John Williams

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Beans
    5,138

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    When you say you installed wubi, do you mean that you went through windows AND rebooted AND went through all the blue screens with redprogressbars AND got stacked on second reboot, or do you mean that you finished the first part (windows) and got stacked on first reboot?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Pendle, Lancs,UK
    Beans
    159
    Distro
    Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    Hi Ago. I think I mean I got stacked on first reboot. I went through the installation process and Ubuntu now appears in my boot menu. When I select I get a splash screen and progress bar but the bar only moves a few centimetres and then stops. As I say the Wubi folder now sits in my New Volume K. Following advice on the Ubuntu Absolute Beginners Forum I tried adding noapic nolapic and ide+nodma to the boot line on the live cd and booting that. This seemed to be succeeding and I sat for about an hour and a half watching text flow past, eventually I felt that it should not be taking this long, the numbers in the left hand column had reached 7800+.
    Therefore I did a hard shutdown and have asked for advice on the Ubuntu Forum but none received yet. Should I have been more patient and waited longer? This seems to be the furthest I've got with any of my attempts but was showing no signs of ever ending and booting. I know you are dealing with Wubi and may have some advice on that but the above may be of some use. Thanks for listening, John Williams

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Beans
    5,138

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    There are 2 different "splash" screens. One on a black background with a fancy Ubuntu logo like this



    and one not so fancy with a blue screen and some white text like the following

    http://www.linuxshots.com/main.php?g...serialNumber=2

    Which one do you mean?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Pendle, Lancs,UK
    Beans
    159
    Distro
    Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    This is the one I get now but I think I had the blue one with the box originally when I first installed Wubi. Sorry to be unsure but I've been booting and rebooting both Wubi and Ubuntu and got confused. Certainlly the one you show is what i now get if I select Ubuntu in the boot menu. John Williams

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Beans
    5,138

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    Quote Originally Posted by johnwillyums View Post
    This is the one I get now but I think I had the blue one with the box originally when I first installed Wubi. Sorry to be unsure but I've been booting and rebooting both Wubi and Ubuntu and got confused. Certainlly the one you show is what i now get if I select Ubuntu in the boot menu. John Williams
    So the black one... That's good news since it means that the kernel was able to boot at least once...

    You may want to edit c:\wubi\boot\grub\menu.lst, in the kernel lines remove "quiet splash", possibly append noapic & co. See where it jams and report the exact lines.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Pendle, Lancs,UK
    Beans
    159
    Distro
    Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    I just tried that or at least what I think you meant. I opened the Wubi folder on my K. drive and then opened the GRUB folder. This revealed 2 files. I tried to open the one marked "menu.1st" but Windows won't let me giving the usual about not knowing what programme created it. Is that what you meant? If so what should I do? Thanks for your help, John Williams

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Beans
    5,138

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    Yes that is the one and you can use notepad to edit it

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Pendle, Lancs,UK
    Beans
    159
    Distro
    Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    Sorry to be so stupid but I don't understand and have never used notepad. Is it a windows programme? Could you babytalk me through it? John Williams

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Beans
    5,138

    Re: 3 Distros-My PC won't boot Linux?

    yes open notepad from accessories (or wordpad) and from that open and edit menu.lst

Page 1 of 6 123 ... LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •